Environment is Meant to Gain More Space in International Law

There are
certain things that sometimes escape international lawyer’s mind. Important
things that sometimes are lost in the shadows of conflicts and crisis
situations, treaties and customary regulations of war and peace. I am talking
about environmental concerns of the modern world and how international law is
in attempt to regulate them.

To start
discussing the regulations in themselves it is important to first remind
ourselves about the reasoning behind the environmental challenges. I was
reminded by one particular panel on Crans Montana Forum that was held in Baku
in the very end of June, called “The Impact of Globalization on the World
Environment”. When panel’s keynote-speaker Vice-President of Heydar Aliyev
Foundation, IDEA Campaign founder Leyla Aliyeva was delivering her speech it
was striking to me that though I knew that our country was left with major
environmental concerns just after the Soviet past, I practically never stopped
to think that it is I who will be one of those responsible for future cleanup,
as every other citizen of my generation will be. When Ms. Aliyeva was talking
about the role of younger generation in the prevention of negative effects to
the environment – it became clear to me that everyone of us will be responsible
to the answer the environmental challenges in his/her own capacity. If I am an
international lawyer – then it is quite obvious where I should raise awareness.

However it is
not enough just to spread the word and conduct your efforts accordingly. You
need to relay them into the future. Just as Ms. Aliyeva pointed out – education
on environment is essential to
address the future environmental challenges. Our generation when growing up
lacked that kind of education due to the period of change and struggle to the
basic development, however now we owe it to our children to provide them with
the knowledge they need to continue what we will start in preserving our
nature, taking care of environment and striving for sustainable development.
Because just like Ms. Aliyeva said – the young people are the forth front for
environmental developments.

If there will be
no action now we might one day find ourselves in the situation described by the
other speaker on the panel Mr. Subramaniam Eassuwaren, New Leader 2012 from Sri
Lanka who told his very said however educational story of how Sri Lanka lost
almost 90% of its rainforests to the development without heed to the
environmental protection. If we don’t want to face such situation sometime in
the future, we need to answer the call of Ms. Aliyeva that there is a need for
urgent actions and commitments on the part of younger generations.

So what does the
international law do right now to protect environment? Mostly sought topics of
regulation in international law concerning environment are climate change,
sustainable development, biodiversity, transfrontier pollution, marine
pollution, endangered species, hazardous materials and activities, cultural
preservation, desertification and the uses of seas. All of these topics in one
or another matter have found themselves in the scope of international environmental
law. It is worth mentioning that United Nations has its own Environmental
Programme.

However the main
question still remains on how to enforce the international environmental law.
Of course there are forums that provide the arbitration to environmental
disputes between states. There are several international arbitration panels,
including International Court of Justice itself. The major problem is that such
arbitrations require states to voluntarily submit to their jurisdictions. In
addition even if there is a decision made in the international arbitration, it
heavily depends on national governments to enforce such decisions. Problems
arise when the implementations of ruling is withheld or suspended due to the
political or economic reasons.

Another
hindrance in the implementation of international environmental law is the lack
of the international body charged with the responsibility to enforce such law
directly. Thus the responsibility lies on the national authorities to adopt and
use implementing policies. That is why it is very important for the
international bodies to at least conduct monitoring and diplomatic functions
when it comes to the responsibility of the states to protect environment.

Nonetheless, it seems that there is an upcoming tendency
of international community to get more involved in the matters concerning
international environmental regulations. Though a lot still depends on the good
will of the states it is everybody’s responsibility to raise awareness of the
situation and demand the effective implementation of the norms that will help
us save our future. And it is the responsibility of international lawyers everywhere
to take action in the lobbying and promoting the efforts to enforce
international environmental law. With that it can truly be said that environment
is meant to gain its proper space in international law.

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Me

Doctor Habilitatus / LL.D.(Legum Doctor) in International and Constitutional Law. Scholar/Analyst and an independent expert in international law, conflicts, security and defense. Researcher at Lund University, Sweden.